かくれんぼ

also: かくれんぼう

か

く

れ

ん

ぼ

Freq.FrequencyTop 20,000

Meanings

hide-and-seek

usually written using kana alone

The children's game of hide-and-seek. Often used in the phrase かくれんぼをする.

かくれんぼをするto play hide-and-seek
公こう園えんで子こ供どもたちがかくれんぼをしている。
The children are playing hide-and-seek in the park.
鬼おにになるto be 'it' (the seeker) in hide-and-seek
じゃんけんで負まけた人ひとが鬼おにになる。
Whoever loses at rock-paper-scissors becomes the seeker.
〈場ば所しょ〉に隠かくれるto hide in a place (during hide-and-seek)
私わたしは押おし入いれの中なかに隠かくれた。
I hid inside the closet.

鬼おにごっこ
鬼ごっこ is a chasing game where the 'oni' tries to tag the other players, while かくれんぼ is hide-and-seek, where players hide and the seeker tries to find them.

鬼おにごっこ
隠れんぼ is hide-and-seek where players hide and one seeker finds them, while 鬼ごっこ is tag where the seeker chases and touches the others.

回かいN4
Used when referring to rounds/plays of hide-and-seek, not the activity as a mass noun.

かくれんぼUsage83%
Standard kana spelling; the word is usually written in kana.
隠れん坊Usage9%
rarely-used kanji form
- かくれんぼう
  Rare kanji form with the reading かくれんぼう; 坊 is a suffix for children's games.
- かくれんぼ
かくれんぼうUsage5%
カクレンボUsage2%
隠かくれんぼ
Kanji spelling using 隠 (hide); less common but still seen.

Developed from the older form かくれんぼう, written 隠れん坊 and associated with the child who hides in the game.